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I somehow, some way, torched my big easy driver today. Now I'm looking for an alternative method to powering this thing. It is now going to be a Arduino Uno and Arduino Motor Shield to start but will have an LCD involved later as well. I would like a portable power supply that is self powered rather than a plug that needs to be powered through a battery pack/converter.

Motor specs are as follows:

Step Angle (degrees) : 0.9

2-Phase

Rated Voltage: 3V

Rated Current: 1.7A/Phase

5mm Diameter Drive Shaft

Holding Torque: 48N.cm

NEMA 17 form factor

The Arduino needs 5 volts but can take up to 12. The shield can take no more than 4 amps total, 2 per channel. What specs should I be looking for to do this safely, compactly, and easily? Can I use a bank of rechargeable AA's and get a few hours of use at a time, or should I be looking for an RC car type battery?

Hey OP. I got some T2.5 timing belts from alibaba that came with pulleys. the belt gets clamped to both ends of my rail, goes under a rollerskate bearing, over the pulley, and under another bearing. I put a mechanical switch just "outside" each bearing. This way when the motor turns the "car" pulls itself along the rail, and when the switch on the bumper gets hit I know I reached the end.

What I haven't worked out yet is how to make the car so that it rides well on the edge of a generic ladder without play - I want precise, repeatable motion.

my car is like a train - it rides on a rail. I'm not going to ship a rail to customers, it's too big and heavy. Instead I'll design to use a ladder for my rail. I will probably use both sides of the ladder for stability. A ladder that's wider on one end makes life complicated.

I'm going for repeatable precision so I need computer controlled movement & positioning on a straight rail and smooth mechanics with no play or slop.

I'm designing for manufacturing so every part I choose has to be easy to manufacture or available in quantity off the shelf.

I'm shipping so I have the added constraint of shaving as much weight as I can.

The rail will be the biggest part and the first one I want to avoid shipping. By picking a commercially available straight edged ladder from a (inter?)national supplier I make sure all my customers can locally source the rail themselves, at whatever length they need.